


Chances

by drarry_wins (lileolily), lileolily



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abuse, Abused Harry Potter, Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Bisexual Remus Lupin, Bottom Harry Potter, Everyone Is Gay, Evil Albus Dumbledore, F/F, F/M, Gay Draco Malfoy, Gay Harry Potter, Gay Sirius Black, Good Slytherins, Harry Potter Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Harry Potter Has a Pet Snake, Harry is Lord Black, Harry is Lord Potter, Harry is a Little Shit, Hogwarts Fourth Year, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Invisibility Cloak (Harry Potter), Lesbian Daphne Greengrass, Lesbian Hermione Granger, Lesbian Millicent Bulstrode, Lesbian Pansy Parkinson, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Multi, Pansy Parkinson & Harry Potter Friendship, Pansy Parkinson is a Good Friend, Parselmouth Harry Potter, Parseltongue, Protective Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley is a Good Friend, Sane Tom Riddle, Slytherin Harry Potter, The Cupboard Under The Stairs (Harry Potter), The Weasley Twins Are The Best, Top Draco Malfoy, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:46:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23542579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lileolily/pseuds/drarry_wins, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lileolily/pseuds/lileolily
Summary: This is my first fic so please leave comments!! I will probably edit it at some point, and I'll try to add a chapter every two weeks or so. I'm really bad at writing summaries so I'm going to try to write one using less than 15 words:Harry hides something. Snape observes. The Slytherins want revenge. Draco finds himself fascinated.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley, Fred Weasley/George Weasley/Blaise Zabini, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Marcus Flint/Oliver Wood, Millicent Bulstrode/Daphne Greengrass, Minerva McGonagall/Poppy Pomfrey, Neville Longbottom/Theodore Nott, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Viktor Krum/Ron Weasley, Vincent Crabbe/Gregory Goyle
Comments: 37
Kudos: 659





	1. An Unsuspected Sorting

Harry sighed in relief as he sat down at the Gryffindor table, grateful to be far away from Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley. He watched as the first years were sorted, Hermione and Ron by his side, and immediately tuned out as soon as Dumbledore began talking. He couldn’t believe that Dumbledore hadn’t advocated for Sirius and gotten him a trial, and that he had barely allowed Harry to stay with him at Grimmauld Place, even for just a week. Dumbledore had told him firmly that Harry had to stay with the Dursleys. And so Harry had been sent back to the hellhole that Dumbledore believed he called home, and stuffed into the cupboard under the stairs again, regardless of his threats about Sirius. Harry had used his time stuck in the tiny space to brush up on his wandless magic, which didn’t alert the Ministry as one could only apply the trace to wands.

Sirius had come a week before term to collect Harry and take him to Diagon. Harry had asked to borrow his wand and had packed his things, making sure that Sirius saw nothing. He wouldn’t want the man to get into more trouble for killing a couple of muggles. Sirius had taken him to Grimmauld and they had picked out a bedroom, and once they had returned from Diagon Alley, Harry had excused himself and explored the house. He had found a door in a very shadowy hallway and had entered it, and he found an incredible library - smaller than the Black library, but with far more interesting subjects. He had immediately pocketed a book on wandless magic, and another that was an introduction to the dark arts, and he had practiced brewing in the small lab that had been connected. Harry was jolted back into awareness as Hermione nudged his arm.

“…The Ministry has called for the resorting of one student, Harry Potter,” the man said cheerily, the tone not reaching his eyes, “Come on up, Harry my boy,” Dumbledore finished. 

“You’ll be fine, mate,” Ron mumbled, Hermione nodding encouragingly. Harry got up carefully and made his way toward the front of the hall, trying not to shrink away from the eyes all focused on him. He wondered why the Ministry wanted to resort only him. As he sat down on the chair, he made eye contact with a pair of gray eyes and an interested expression before his sight was impaired by the Sorting Hat.

“ _Well, well, well, Mr. Potter, here we are again. I do say I am confused as to why you are here, but I will be happy to fix my mistake of putting you in Gryffindor, when you were meant to be in Slytherin all along,_ ” the Sorting Hat said. Harry restrained himself from shaking his head.

“ _Why are you so insistent on putting me in that house?_ ” Harry asked the hat, puzzled. The hat chuckled lightly.

“ _It’s where you belong, Mr. Potter. Your ability to hide your darkest secrets, your ability to speak parseltongue - not to mention all the enchantments that have been placed upon you by Dumbledore which can be broken by darker magic which tends to favor Slytherin students. Oh yes, you will do well in,_ SLYTHERIN!” the hat exclaimed. Harry sighed, reached up and removed the hat, stood up and placed it in an astonished McGonagall’s hands before walking over to the fourth year Slytherins in absolute silence. A space was cleared between Zabini and Malfoy and he sat down carefully, not wanting to aggravate the wounds that had been caused by his Uncle the night before. Harry glanced over his shoulder at the Gryffindor table and sighed when he saw the furious expression on Ron’s face. Dumbledore cleared his throat and began talking.

“This year, I am proud to announce that we will be holding the Triwizard Tournament, and we will be joined by the seventh year Durmstrang students and the Beauxbatons students. To enter the Tournament, one must be seventeen years of age. More details will be explained once the other two schools have arrived. Let the feast begin!” Dumbledore finished, eyes glinting as he looked toward the Slytherin table and straight at Harry, who looked down at his plate.

“Well that is an interesting turn of events, don’t you think so Potter?” Zabini said, grinning, as the food appeared on the table. Harry rolled his eyes as they all reached to start filling up their plates. He put as much as he thought that he might be able to stomach on his plate and grimaced at it.

“I had no clue that they would do that. But once I went up there I knew the hat would put me here. Payback for arguing, I suppose,” Harry said, shrugging his shoulders. Malfoy looked at him, confused.

“What do you mean, ‘arguing’?” he asked. Harry looked at him.

“When I first met you, you reminded me of my cousin, who’s an asshole by the way, and you were going on and on about how Slytherin was the best house, and then you insulted my first friend and so when I got sorted I asked the hat to put me in Gryffindor,” Harry replied.

“You can do that?” a blonde girl sitting across from him - Greengrass - asked. Harry nodded. This caused the surrounding Slytherins to look pensive.

“Well Potter, aren’t you disappointed that you can’t enter in the Tournament?” Parkinson drawled from her seat next to Greengrass. Harry looked up at her.

“Of course not. Maybe I’ll get to have a relatively normal year for once. I’d rather not be trying not to die all year,” he said, watching as her eyebrows lifted in surprise. He frowned.

“What, did you all think I put myself into all of these dangerous situations on purpose?” he asked them. There was a beat of silence while the surrounding Slytherins looked away.

“I feel very insulted,” Harry said haughtily. Zabini started chuckling. Suddenly the other students began to get up and leave the Hall, and Harry followed them.

“The password is ‘semper fidelis’ for the next two weeks,” Malfoy called to them before pulling Parkinson towards the first years. Harry made his way through the halls with Zabini, Nott, Bulstrode, Greengrass, and Crabbe and Goyle following along behind them. When they were almost at the entrance to the Slytherin common room, he saw a carving of a snake in the wall. He paused to look at it, and smiled in surprise as it moved its head to look at him.

“ _Can you speak?_ ” Harry hissed to it, barely registering that the others that he was walking with had stopped with him. The snake wriggled in excitement.

“ _A speaker! It has been so long since the last speaker. I know all the gossip of the castle; you see, I am connected to the walls and I can hear everything that the walls can hear,_ ” the snake responded. Harry grinned.

“ _I will come back and speak with you, for sure, but for now I have to go,_ ” Harry hissed. the snake nodded and Harry turned back to the entrance where the other Slytherins were staring at him.

“I forgot you could do that,” Nott said quietly. Harry smirked, and walked over to the entrance to the common room.

“Semper fidelis,” he said, and the opening appeared. He stepped through, followed by the others.

“How the fuck did you know where the entrance was,” Bulstrode demanded.

“Oh, I have my ways,” Harry responded, grinning. Zabini shook his head.

“How the hat didn’t insist on you being sorted into Slytherin immediately the first time, I have no idea,” he said, flopping down on a couch next to the fireplace with a clear view of the window into the lake, as well as the common room entrance. Crabbe and Goyle left to go to their dorm. Soon after they had all sat down, Malfoy and Parkinson entered with the first years, lectured them, telling them bunch of rules before sending away to their dorms, and then they joined the others by the fireplace.

“Did we miss anything interesting?” Parkinson asked, tucking her legs under her as she sat herself on the couch. Malfoy sat on the floor and leaned his head against the seat.

“Not much. We just forgot that Potter here can speak parseltongue, and he also somehow already knew where the common room entrance was,” Zabini drawled. Harry rolled his eyes.

“Tell us how you knew,” Bulstrode said, pouting. Harry grinned at her.

“Hey Malfoy, do you recall anything strange about halloween in second year, after the feast?” he asked. Malfoy frowned at him, thinking, and Harry clearly saw when the lightbulb lit.

“You brewed fucking polyjuice in second year?” he blurted out. Harry’s smile grew bigger.

“That’s why they were acting so strange,” he muttered, staring at Harry as if he had grown an extra head.

“You led us right into the common room without even noticing that anything was wrong,” Harry said, before doubling over with laughter. Zabini looked amused, and even Nott had a smile on his face, while the girls were giggling at Malfoy’s outraged expression.

“You’re my hero,” Greengrass said, fluttering her eyes dramatically, before pretending to swoon and fall on Harry, who flinched, but caught her. The startled expression on Harry’s face caused Malfoy to explode into laughter, which caused Nott to start laughing, and soon everyone was gasping for breath. Once they had quieted down, Zabini made eye contact with Harry.

“If you two,” he said, gesturing between Harry and Malfoy, “can be civil, I think that Potter will be a great addition to our group,” he finished. Harry beamed.

“Call me Harry,” he said. Zabini smirked at him.

“You can call me Blaise.”

“I’m Daphne.”

“Theo.”

"Millie."

“Call me Pansy.”

“I will allow you to call me Draco.”

This last phrase caused the group to dissolve into laughter once more, as Draco glared at the rest of them.

“What? What was so funny?” he demanded. Harry shook his head, still laughing. Suddenly a bell went off and Harry tensed up, but thankfully the others didn’t notice.

“Ah, quiet hour is starting, we have to go to our dorms now,” Blaise said to Harry as they got up from the couches. The girls hugged the boys goodnight and they went in two separate directions.

“Each dorm has two beds, and since there was an odd number of boys in our year until now, you’ll be rooming with me since I haven’t had a previous roommate,” Draco said gesturing to a door. Harry nodded, and followed him into the room.

“Goodnight Draco, Harry,” Blaise said, while Theo nodded.

“Goodnight Blaise, Theo,” Harry replied. He closed the door and turned around to see Draco’s are hanging outside of his definitely expanded trunk as he rifled around in it, and his own trunk by the second bed. Harry pulled his trunk onto his bed and opened it. He quickly unpacked his robes and put them away, and then pulled out his normal clothes and looked at them. They seemed much shabbier than usual when compared to the clothes that Draco was putting away. Draco glanced over at him and grimaced.

“Please have some better clothes,” he said. Harry bit his lip. Draco groaned and marched over to him, shoving the clothes to the floor.

“Hey! That’s all the clothes I own,” Harry exclaimed. Draco stared at him in astonishment.

“Incendio,” he muttered, flicking his wand to the pile on the floor. Harry yelped as they caught on fire and glared angrily at Draco, who had returned to his trunk.

“What am I supposed to-” he started when Draco began to throw various articles of clothing at him.

“I am not letting a fellow Slytherin walk around wearing those- those rags,” he said in disgust.

“We are taking you shopping on the first Hogsmeade weekend-or even before if we can manage it-but until then, I have some things that I’ve started to grow out of that should fit you,” he continued. Harry blinked at him.

“Oh. Thank you,” he said, leaning down to pick up the clothes that had been thrown at him. They were softer than anything he had ever worn before, bar the invisibility cloak. He grabbed his toiletries and entered the bathroom, placing his meager supplies next to the unoccupied sink. He quickly showered, pleased that he could finally use hot water again, wrapped a towel around his wait and returned to the bedroom where Draco was waiting. The boy flushed, but luckily for him, Harry hadn’t put his glasses back on yet. Draco hurried into the bathroom and left Harry to try on his newly-acquired clothing.

He slipped into the satin pajamas, which were far too long for him, He stood to get his wand and immediately tripped. Scowling, he concentrated on shrinking them wandlessly, delighted when it worked and they fit him. He ignored the sleeves as he searched for his pencil case, grinning when he pulled it out. He put it on the desk before pulling out a notebook and opening it to a blank page. He heard the bathroom door open and was suddenly aware of the baggy shirt. He waved his hand and they shrunk to fit him, and he heard a gasp.

“You can do wandless?” Draco asked, shocked. Harry nodded slowly.

“I got a lot of practice in over the summer,” he answered, grimacing, remembering the badly healed burns and lashes.

“That’s impressive. I can only cast a protego, and a weak wingardium leviosa,” Draco stated.

“I don’t really know what I can cast wandlessly,” Harry replied. Draco stared at him.

“We will have to find out, won’t we?” he said, before turning to bed ready for bed. Harry looked at his paper.

_Dear Snuffles,_ he wrote, _How are you? I miss you already and it hasn’t even been 24 hours. I have two pieces of news for you. 1. Hogwarts is going to be hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year, and 2. I’ve been resorted. Into Slytherin. I’m sorry, I know how much you hate Slytherin, and if you want to stop talking to me I understand - just send me a letter back to let me know._

_Love, Harry_

He sighed as he signed his name. He rolled up the letter, went over to his trunk and took out his invisibility cloak.

“Where do you think you’re going?” a voice asked. Harry froze, feeling his heartbeat speed up and wished it to slow down.

“Just to the owlry. I have to send a letter,” he answered, frowning as he heard his voice shake slightly.

“Merlin, you’re going to lose us points on the first night, aren’t you,” Draco sighed. Harry smirked.

“Me? Losing points? Where did you get that idea?” he said, pulling on the cloak. He chuckled as Draco choked.

“What the fuck?” he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes.

“See you in fifteen,” was Harry’s answer. He arrived at the owlry with no trouble, sent off his letter and made it back to his room. He opened the door slowly and was greeted with the sight of Draco whipping his head around to stare at the door. Harry removed the cloak and grinned.

“Goodnight, Draco,” he said, before putting his cloak back in his trunk and getting into his bed. He set a tempus and then put up a silencing charm and locking charm on the curtains around the bed, then dropped his glamor and looked over his scars and wounds to make sure that they weren’t infected, before taking off his glasses and falling asleep.


	2. Shopping and Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco sees something strange, the gang goes on a shopping spree, questions are asked, and some explanations are given.

Harry opened his eyes slowly as his tempus went off, frowning at the greenish light coming in through the underwater windows before the memories of everything that had happened yesterday hit him. He sat up slowly and put on his glasses. He hadn’t slept this badly in weeks. Being back at Hogwarts reminded him of Sirius, and of Pettigrew, and his nightmares had ranged from the one he always had about the green light, to one of Pettigrew dancing around in pink underwear before shifting into his animagus form and cruicio-ing him while a dementor kissed him. He summoned a glass of water and sipped at it shakily. Maybe he should become an animagus…

He was startled out of his musings by a loud thump, and he carefully looked through the crack in his curtains, wand out. He was met with the sight of a disgruntled Draco Malfoy sitting on the floor next to his bed and rubbing at his head. He snorted, and Draco whipped his head around to stare at Harry.

“I thought it was a dream, I really did,” he muttered. Harry grinned and opened his curtains to get up. He rooted around his things for a shirt that he had put away before Draco had burned his things, and paused when he heard a startled gasp. He looked over at Draco in confusion.

“Your… your back…” Draco said quietly. Harry froze and glamoured his injuries with a twitch of his finger.

“What are you on about?” he replied while turning around to grab his shirt, effectively showing his glamoured back, barely keeping the fear of being discovered out of his voice. He pulled on his hoodie and his nicest pair of jeans and walked towards the bathroom.

“You should hurry and get ready for breakfast. It’s Sunday, so technically we could go to Hogsmeade today,” he continued, leaving a dumbfounded Draco alone in the dorm. As Harry showered, Draco wrote a note for Harry to meet him in the common room after he was finished with his shower and he hurried out. He knocked on Blaise and Theo’s door. Blaise opened it a few moments later and frowned at the emotions rolling across Draco’s face.

“Come down to the common room. Hurry. I have to tell you guy something before Harry is done showering,” he said, before hurrying in the direction of the girls dorms. He strolled in and knocked on Pansy’s door. Millie poked her head out and cursed as Pansy shoved her to the side after seeing who had knocked.

“Draco! What’s wrong?” she asked. Draco shook his head.

“Come down to the common room quickly. I have some things to share. Get Daphne too,” he said, before turning and sitting on one of the couches by the fireplace in the common room where Blaise and Theo had already made themselves comfortable. Theo quirked an eyebrow at his and he shook his head. He didn’t want to have to explain himself twice. A few minutes later the girls came down and sat with them. Daphne cleared her throat.

“Explain why you dragged us out of bed on a Sunday morning?” she said.

“It’s not like you weren’t up anyways,” Pansy said, smirking in her direction. Daphne rolled her eyes.

“Whatever. I want to know though,” she continued. Draco bit his lip and erected a privacy charm with a wave of his wand.

“Okay. The first thing is that the only clothes that Harry has are rags - or should I say were rags before I burned them,” he began. Millicent’s jaw dropped.

“What do you mean you burned his clothes? Harry Potter’s clothes? The Savior’s clothes?” she demanded.

“Relax. I let him borrow some of my old things and I suggested that we could go to Hogsmeade today and get him some new things since it is technically a weekend,” Draco countered. There was a pause.

“Wait, what do you mean his clothes were rags? That boy is rich. How can he not have nice clothes?” Pansy asked. Draco glanced at the hallway to the boys dorms to make sure Harry wasn’t coming before he continued.

“That’s not quite our top priority, believe it or not. This morning I was coming back from the bathroom and he was getting dressed - Blaise, don’t even start - and when he turned around to grab his shirt I saw a lot of scars on his back. He glamoured them immediately when he noticed that I saw but they were definitely there,” he finished. The group was silent.

“What did they look like?” Theo asked coldly.

“Some were long lines that probably came from some sort of whip, and there were also some small round ones. Some were old and some were scabbing over,” Draco answered. 

“Get Severus to have everyone do a health checkup. How have they not been caught in the checkups? Do the Gryffindors not do them?” Pansy said, before her eyes widened.

“Here he comes. Act natural.” Draco hastily cancelled the privacy charm. Harry had indeed entered the common room, and he grinned when he saw them and headed over.

“When do we know when our checkups will be?” Daphne asked innocently, giving Draco a Look. Draco shrugged. 

“Severus hasn’t told me yet but we’ll probably be done with them by next weekend,” he replied, glancing at Harry to gauge his reaction. Harry blinked at them in confusion.

“Checkups?” he said. Blaise nodded.

“We always get checkups at the start of the year,” Blaise said. The group watched as Harry frowned. 

“I’ve never had a checkup before,” he said quietly, watching as the group’s faces darkened.

“What the fuck is up with Gryffindor, mate? Checkups are required by law!” Pansy burst out. Harry smiled slightly.

“Anyway, enough chatter. Draco darling, go ask Snape about Hogsmeade. We will meet you outside of his office. Harry, I know you have money, so you are going to listen to me and buy everything I tell you to,” Pansy ordered, shoving Draco off the couch, who grumbled and disappeared through the door. Harry grinned. Pansy was a lot more like Hermione than he had expected. 

As the group dispersed to get their money, Draco knocked on his godfather’s door. Severus opened it and sighed.

“Draco. What could you possibly need from me at nine in the morning before we have even started classes?” he asked, opening the door and letting the blond boy in. 

“Maybe I just want your company,” Draco replied, grinning. Severus rolled his eyes.

“Out with it.”

“Well, we have discovered that Harry has an abysmal wardrobe, and is in desperate need for a new one,” Draco said hopefully. Severus pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Technically it is a weekend, isn’t it. You can floo to the Hog’s Head but you will have to walk back and meet me at the gates at two to get back in,” Severus replied. He summoned a patronus and sent it to Aberforth to warn him of the students, and frowned when he saw the nervous look on his godson’s face.

“What else?” he asked.

“Harry has never had a health checkup,” Draco blurted out, “And he has scars on his back, but he glamours them,” he finished, biting his lip. Severus frowned. 

“I will see to it that he get’s a checkup, but Albus did assure me that he was spoiled and living very well,” he said slowly, feeling himself soften at the look of relief on the boy’s face. Before they could continue their conversation there was a knock on the door, and Severus flicked his wand to open it letting the group crowd into the office. He watched as the students flooed out and sat down to write a note to Poppy.

Harry coughed as he stumbled out of the fireplace at the Hog’s Head.

“I can’t decide whether I hate the floo or portkeys more,” he managed. Pansy smirked at him. 

“You just lack poise, Potter,” Blaise said, stepping gracefully out of the grate. Harry stared in shock as the rest of the group stepped out just as neatly as Blaise had.

“I literally don’t understand,” he said, crossing his arms and sighing. Millie snorted. 

“Come on Harry! Time for a shopping spree!” Daphne exclaimed, grabbing Millie’s hand and tugging her our the door. Theo rolled his eyes.

“If they don’t admit their feelings before the Yule ball, can we lock them in a broom closet together?” he asked, grinning. Blaise snorted. Harry felt his heartbeat quicken. Were same-sex relationships okay? He flinched when Pansy grabbed his hand and started walking, but relaxed when she didn’t drag him around or notice that he had flinched. They entered a clothes shop and began to look around, when suddenly an older wizard wearing an intricate suit stepped forwards to greet them.

“I’m afraid that this is not the store to shop for… muggle clothing,” the salesman sneered, looking Harry up and down. Harry rolled his eyes and ran his hand through his hair, making sure his scar was visible. He smirked when the salesman saw his scar and paled. 

“Oh? Are you sure? I guess we could take our business elsewhere, if you would rather not assist Harry Potter…” he trailed off, slowly turning around and grinning at the assorted Slytherins.

“Harry!” a feminine voice called. Harry beamed and turned around quickly.

“Tonks! What are you doing here?” he called back. A magenta haired witch hurried over to them, tripping over her feet and crashing directly into Harry, who laughed. Tonks stood up and grinned.

“Weekend job,” she turned to the salesman, “I can take care of Harry. But I’m telling Adam,” she said, a hint of irritation in her voice. The salesman nodded and hurried away. As soon as he was gone, Blaise burst out laughing.

“The look on his face! Priceless,” he grinned, slinging an arm over Draco’s shoulder. Theo smiled and shook his head. Tonks looked at them, then back at Harry.

“They with you?” she asked. Harry nodded.

“I got resorted into Slytherin and Draco decided to burn all my clothes last night, so they’ve decided to pick out a new wardrobe for me,” Harry said, shrugging. Tonks grinned.

“Good job, cousin. Hated those ‘clothes’,” she said leading them through the store, causing Draco to frown in confusion.

“I’m a disinherited Black. We’re related,” she said, chuckling at the look of shock on his face. Millie snorted, and Pansy and Blaise disappeared into the rows of clothing. Daphne led Harry to a changing room, and disappeared with Draco. Theo and Millie stayed with him.

“I don’t care what I wear. Pansy usually picks things out for me, and my parents tend to gift me clothes,” Theo explained. Harry looked to Millie, who shrugged.

“I’m gay. I just choose what I want from everything that the boys don’t want and alter it to fit me,” she said nonchalantly. Harry nodded, and got up as he saw Pansy returning.

“Okay, I need you to try these on,” she said, holding a stack of clothes out for him to grab. He looked at it as if it were a rat animagus that was supposed to be dead before taking it and making his way into the large changing room. He put on a pair of grey pants, a white shirt and a black sweater, and opened the door. Pansy beamed and stepped into the changing room. She grabbed a dark forest green sweater and tossed it to him. He closed the door and switched sweaters, glancing at the mirror with self-doubt.

“This one goes really well with your eyes,” she said. She pulled out a navy button up and squinted at it. Harry fidgeted.

“Pansy, are…” he started, before clamping his mouth shut. She looked over at him and sighed, before taking out her wand and setting up a privacy charm.

“I know we don’t know each other well, but you can trust me. I don’t know why, but I have an unexplainable urge to protect you even though you are definitely more powerful than me. You can tell or ask me anything and I won’t judge you,” Pansy said sternly, but with a smile on her face. Harry bit his lip.

“Are same-sex relationships normal in the wizarding world? Because they aren’t really accepted by everyone in the Muggle one,” he said quickly. Pansy patted the bench next to her, and Harry sat down.

“The wizarding world has a huge LGBTQ community. There are some families that aren’t accepting, which is ridiculous because even if they want an heir for the family line, their are potions and spells that let same-sex couples get pregnant. So, I’m gay and my parents are insisting on an heir, so I just need to have my partner take a potion that will temporarily let them produce sperm,” Pansy explained. Harry nodded. 

“Thank you. My relatives are homophobic, but I generally like anything that they dislike so you don’t have to worry about me hating on you,” he said, grabbing her hand. Pansy smiled and him and squeezed his hand before standing up.

“Now that that’s sorted out, it’s back to business,” she giggled, tossing a pair of loose, navy blue pants at him and leaving the room. Harry smiled and tried them on. They were tight at the waist and the ankles, and were loose everywhere else, and they had large pockets in the front that could easily fit an entire water bottle. He grinned and picked out two more pairs of the same style, in black and green, and put them in the basket by the door. He kept trying on things that the others shoved at him until he was certain that he had tried half the clothes in the shop. 

Eventually he had put five sweaters, ten button ups, fifteen t-shirts, eleven pairs of pants, six pairs of pajamas and three cloaks into the basket, as well as a pair of dress robes for the Yule Ball and six pairs of school pants, shirts and robes. He kept on the blue pants and a black t-shirt and stepped out of the changing room. Blaise wolf-whistled and Harry rolled his eyes.

“Looking good, Potter,” Theo said, grinneing, which made Harry laugh. Daphne grabbed the basket and hurried over to checkout where Tonks was sitting on the counter, talking to Pansy, who handed her a smaller bag.

“Well, well, well, buying out the whole store, are we now?” Tonks laughed, beginning to ring up the items. Harry rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get too used to this,” he replied. Tonks grinned at him.

“Black Family discount!” she called out. Harry groaned.

“Let me pay you, Tonks!” he pleaded. She shook her head as the other Slytherins fought to hold back their laughter.

“20% off, plus the stuff you’re wearing for free,” she cackled. Harry hit himself in the head with a clothes hanger. 

“Oh stop it, Harry. And since when are you a Black?” Draco said, raising an eyebrow.

“Sirius named me the Black heir over the summer,” Harry said, enjoying the looks of confusion and shock on the Slytherin’s faces. Tonks giggled.

“Take pity on them, Harry,” she said, giving him a Look that clearly said , tell them if you trust them, before bagging up his purchases. She hit them with a feather-light charm and handed them over.

“Bye Tonks,” he said as he took them, and he headed out, the Slytherins trailing after him. 

“Black heir?” Blaise asked after they had left the store. Harry brought up a privacy charm.

“Did you know that my parents switched their secret keeper the day before they were murdered?” Harry asked casually. Blaise raised an eyebrow.

“So if Black didn’t sell them out to the Dark Lord, who did? And he still killed all those muggles, right?” Millie asked. Harry grimaced.

“The night before, Sirius went to my parents house and begged to switch secret keepers. He was convinced that he would be too obvious of a choice. So they agreed and switched to the overlooked Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew was secretly a Death Eater, and he sold out my parents. Sirius was pissed, and of course he blamed himself, so he went after Pettigrew and cornered him on a muggle street when he found him. And that is where things get interesting.

“You see, my dad, Sirius and Pettigrew had become animagi in their fourth year to help Remus go through his monthly transformation. Pettigrew was a rat, which is rather fitting as he ratted them out… Anyways, Pettigrew blamed everything on Sirius and used a curse to blow up half the street. He sent a hex at Sirius which made him laugh uncontrollably, then cut off one of his fingers, shifted into his rat form and followed all the other rats and escaped,” Harry explained. The Slytherins were shocked.

“Why did he go to Azkaban then?” Daphne asked gently. Harry kicked a rock.

“Dumbledore didn’t let him have a trial. He wouldn’t have gone if he had gotten a trial. And the worst part is, Pettigrew didn’t even suffer. He lived with the Weasley’s as their pet rat, Scabbers, until last spring when we had our lovely little adventure with the dementors. We were so close to turning him in, but we forgot that it was the full moon, and Remus had been the one to petrify the bastard and then the charm broke and we had to book it before we all got turned into werewolves,” Harry sighed, “and now Sirius is confined to his house and Dumbledore won’t let him get a trial. Which sucks because he’s my godfather and I would jump at the chance to live with him,” he finished. The Slytherins looked at him oddly.

“Harry,” Millie started, “why would you rather live with him, a man that you’ve just met, than with your family?” she asked slowly. Harry tensed, and the Slytherins frowned.

“They aren’t magical. They’re a bit unnerved with the fact that I am, so we don’t get along as well as we should,” he rambled, slowing to a standstill as they reached the gates. Severus got there a few minutes later and opened them, glancing curiously at Harry and raising an eyebrow at Draco, who shrugged. They walked up the drive to the castle, Millie and Daphne holding hands and chatting, Blaise, Theo and Pansy talking about classes they were looking forward to, Draco talking quietly with Severus, and Harry walking silently and fidgeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided that I'm going to post a new chapter every other Saturday. I might change it to every Saturday or I might just post some chapters early, but there will definitely always be a new chapter every other Saturday. Thank you all so much for the lovely comments! They are very motivating :)


	3. Consorting With Gryffindors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Slytherins resort to talking to the Gryffindors - who know more than they expected.

Once Draco was sure that Harry was asleep, he silently crept out of bed and out of his dorm. He knocked softly on the door to Blaise’s and Theo’s room, and Theo opened it and gestured him inside. He sat down on Blaise’s bed and fiddled with the sheets.

“There’s definitely something wrong with his home life. I think - I think that they are abusing him,” Draco said quietly, “where else could he have gotten those scars?” he finished.

“We need to talk to his friends. Granger or Weasley, preferably Granger as Weasley doesn’t seem too happy with Harry at the moment,” Blaise said. Theo got out a piece of parchment and began to write a note to Hermione.

“Nessy,” he called, and the two other boys jumped when a house elf appeared in the dorm, “deliver this to Hermione Granger please, and quietly,” he finished. The house elf popped away and Theo looked up to see the Blaise and Draco staring at him.

“Yes, house elves can get through the Hogwarts wards. It’s very convenient,” he continued with a grin. The boys continued to discuss Harry’s situation, and Draco told them that he had tried to arouse suspicion in Snape. After that, Draco returned to his dorm and dropped off into restless sleep.

Hermione woke up on Monday morning to see a roll of parchment sitting on her bedside table. Curious, she checked it for hexes before she unrolled it, skimming through the note, expression hardening. She let out a string of curse words under her breath.

“How could I not have noticed?” she muttered to herself, hurrying to get herself ready for the day. She cast a tempus. 7:03. As her roommates began to prepare for the day she hastened down the stairs and left Gryffindor tower, pausing to send Ron a note telling him that she would meet him at breakfast. She walked quickly before stopping in front of a tapestry and cleared her throat. Suddenly a pale hand with neat black nails reached out from behind the tapestry and pulled her through. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw Zabini lounging on a chair and Parkinson still holding her wrist. Hermione raised an eyebrow at the girl, who quickly let go of her and sat down, gesturing to a third chair.

“So, Granger, what do you know of Harry’s home life?” Zabini drawled. Hermione bristled.

“How do I know you won’t spread this all over the school?” she demanded. Zabini and Parkinson blinked at her, before making eye contact with each other and having a silent conversation.

“I, Blaise Zabini, swear on my magic not to release any information given to me unless permitted,” he said, and there was a flash of golden light. Parkinson repeated the oath, and the same thing happened.

“Will you tell us what you know?” she asked. Hermione nodded, still apprehensive.

“I know that Harry hates it there, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say anything positive about his relatives. He definitely considers Hogwarts his home, that’s for sure. I know he always loses weight over the summers too,” she listed, watching the expressions on the faces of the two Slytherins grow more and more worried. Suddenly, two people stepped through the tapestry, and Hermione whipped around, wand raised.

“Jeez, ‘Mione,” someone started,

“Don’t kill us,” another finished. Hermione sighed and put away her wand as the twins grinned. She turned back to the Slytherins, who now looked nervous.

“You want to know - ”

“ - about those bastards - ”

“ - that call themselves - ”

“ - Harry’s relatives?” Fred finished. Zabini groaned.

“Yes, but can you please not talk like that when you’re explaining?” Parkinson asked, exasperatedly. The twins grinned, but nodded.

“In the summer before the Heir of Slytherin situation, we noticed that Harry wasn’t answering our letters - ” 

“ - courtesy of Dobby - ” 

“ - so we decided to investigate. So we took Dad’s flying car and flew to Privet Drive,” George explained, suddenly looking murderous.

“Guess what we find? Harry in his bedroom - ” 

“ - which is empty except for his cousins broken things - ” 

“ - and bars on the window,” Fred snarled. Zabini’s expression had become ice cold, and Parkinson looked horrified.

“And that’s not all,” Fred continued, “we pulled off the bars quietly and went inside, and asked where his trunk was - ” 

“ - and he said it was in the cupboard under the stairs - ” 

“ - so we went to grab it,” Fred rubbed at his face and waved at George.

“There were three locks on the door to his room, and a cat flap. The cupboard had four padlocks on it. We picked them, grabbed the trunk, and then looked inside to see if there was anything else, and there was. A piece of paper, taped to the wall that said, ‘Harry’s room’,” George finished quietly. There was a crash as a chair broke, and they all looked up to see Parkinson holding the leg of the broken chair.

“Oops,” she said, fury in her voice. Zabini smirked at her, then turned back to Hermione.

“Harry is rooming with Draco now, and on Saturday night when they were unpacking he decided to destroy the rags that Harry called clothes - don’t worry, we took him shopping for a new wardrobe. But in the morning Draco noticed that Harry’s back was covered in scars. He pointed them out and Harry glamoured them immediately and didn’t acknowledge them. And then Draco told us, and Daphne decided to talk loudly about health checkups - did you know that Harry has never had one? And then he told us about Black and wanting to live with him, and Millie asked him why, and then he muttered some nonsense about not getting along with his relatives very well as he should before he shut up, and immediately went to bed as soon as we got back,” Zabini explained. Hermione had paled dramatically at the mention of scars, and the twins were regarding the Slytherins curiously.

“You got him to go shopping?” George asked, before grimacing when Fred elbowed him in the ribs. Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Anyways, we got Draco to talk to Severus, and Harry should have a checkup on Saturday at ten,” Parkinson said, picking at her cuticles. 

“Oh thank god,” Hermione breathed out, slumping forwards over her school bag. She looked up and made eye contact with Parkinson.

“Will you - will you go with him? I’ll be there after but I feel like I can trust you to get him there and not harass him,” Hermione said. Parkinson nodded solemnly. Zabini cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow as the girls turned to look at him, both blushing faintly. 

“As nice as this little chat was, I think we’d better make our way to breakfast before anyone gets suspicious,” Zabini drawled, smirking, “after you.”

Hermione pushed past the tapestry, the twins following her out, leaving the two Slytherins behind, and hurried to the great hall. She stopped in the entrance when she saw Harry sitting at the Slytherin table with some of the other Slytherins in her year, and then she made her way over. Malfoy noticed her first.

“Granger. To what do we owe the pleasure?” he said lazily. Hermione huffed and relaxed a little when she saw Harry roll his eyes. 

“Hi ‘Mione. What’s up?” he asked. He hid it well, but Hermione could tell that he was nervous about her reaction to his resorting.

“Nothing much. I just wanted to make sure you got settled in alright. What’s it like down there?” she asked casually, smiling slightly as she saw the tension bleed out of the boy in front of her, “mind if I sit here for breakfast?” she finished. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Malfoy open his mouth and Greengrass smack him in the back of his head, and she almost snorted.

“Of course. I like it so far,” Harry said, sagging into his seat. Hermione smiled and plopped herself down next to him and began filling her plate. 

“How’s Ron feeling?” Harry asked after a few moments of awkward silence. Hermione grimaced.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into him. I told him that it wasn’t like you could have prevented it, and then he muttered something about the Basilisk for some reason and stormed off to his dorm,” she said while pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice. There was a loud cough, and they turned to see Bulstrode, who coughed a few more times before staring at them. 

“Basilisk?” she said timidly. Hermione and Harry looked at each other.

“Second year? Ring any bells?” Harry asked. The Slytherins paled.

“It was a Basilisk? Nobody told us what it was,” Theo said.

“A snake that can fucking kill someone with a look was roaming the castle?” Greengrass demanded at the same time. Harry nodded.

“‘Mione figured it out just before she got petrified, and the Ron and I went down and I ended up killing the thing with the sword of Gryffindor. Basilisk parts are super rare right? Maybe I could just give it to Snape, and he might stop hating me,” Harry trailed off. Hermione smirked inwardly at the looks of horror on the Slytherins faces.

“I think he would appreciate them,” Zabini said, walking up to the table with Parkinson, whose cheeks had a pink tinge to them. They sat down, Parkinson next to Hermione and Zabini on the other side of Harry.

“I can probably go get them this weekend, unless we get loads of homework,” Harry said.

“I’m coming with you,” Malfoy said.

“Blaise and I too,” Parkinson drawled. Harry looked confused.

“Okay, I guess?” he replied. Suddenly there was the sound of a throat clearing.

“Ms. Granger, were you also resorted into Slytherin?” came Snape’s voice. Hermione bit her tongue and grabbed her things.

“Sorry, sir. Bye Harry, see you in class,” she said, making her way the the Gryffindor table. She looked back and saw Snape looking calculatingly at Harry as he passed out the Slytherins schedules. As she sat down, Ron came in through the door along with Neville, Dean, and Seamus, and sat by Hermione.

“How’s he doing?” Neville whispered. Hermione jumped and put up a privacy charm.

“I think it will be good for him. They’ve already found out about his relatives,” she replied. Neville blinked owlishly at her.

“Wow, that was a lot faster than I expected, but I’m not surprised,” he said, before beginning to eat his breakfast. 

At the Slytherin table, the mail was being delivered. Harry frowned as Hedwig flew down to him.

“Hello, girl,” he said, holding out a strip of bacon. She dropped a letter in his lap, snatched up the bacon and flew away. 

“Who’s it from?” Draco asked, pointing at the letter. Harry looked down at it and saw a doodle of a paw print.

“Sirius,” he replied, opening up the letter and willing his hands to stop shaking. Harry felt himself start to hyperventilate and bit his lip, the sounds of breakfast amplified in his ears to an unbearable volume. He gasped for breath. He felt someone pry the letter from his fingers and he reached out blindly, and then someone put their hands on his shoulders.

“Hey…” he vaguely heard someone say.

“Hey, just look at me. Breathe,” the voice continued. A few minutes later, Harry found himself staring at Blaise’s face, while the others watched, concern etched on their faces. 

“You’re fine, you’re safe. Do you know what triggered you?” Blaise said softly. Harry nodded, jerkily.

“Sirius had a brother who was sorted into Slytherin - it caused their relationship to fall apart and they ended up hating each other,” he managed to say.   
“I doubt that would happen with you and him. I mean, he broke out of prison for you, no? And it’s not like you’re going to become evil all of a sudden,” Pansy said, passing over the letter. Harry took it and stared at it. He twitched his finger and the top of the envelope ripped, letting him pull out the letter,

Dear Prongslet, - it said, - are you joking? I love you so much. There’s no way that I could resent you for being resorted. If you think, ‘what about your brother?’ - it was completely different - his sorting was based off of pureblood bigotry. I know that you don’t care about that. I miss you so much already. I think my only issue will be having to root for the Slytherin Quidditch team which goes against everything I stand for. And the fact that Snivellus is your Head of House. Also, the Triwizard Tournament? That’s amazing. You’re going to meet so many new people! Here’s a tip: start prepping for the Yule ball early. Also, please don’t enter the tournament - it’s extremely dangerous and I really don’t want you to get hurt. Yes, I know I sound like Remus but it’s true.  
I love you so much, pup,  
Padfoot

Harry let out a deep breath and smiled shakily, as another owl dropped a letter onto the table, a wax seal with a moon easily visible on the back. Harry snorted, and opened it, not noticing the Slytherins studying the handwriting on the front of the envelope.

Dear Harry, (yes, it’s Remus. Snuffles mail ordered a wax seal set with actual gold for me, and he’s refusing to let me send a letter without using it. I tried to send this without it but he tackled me and forced me) so you’ve been resorted. Can’t say I’m surprised - you have some pretty impressive critical thinking skills, and a talent for (defense against) dark magic. Note the parenthesis - we should really have a proper conversation about the uses of magic at some point. Anyway, this leads to my next point. An owl should be arriving soon - there was a thump of a package hitting the table - with a communication mirror. Just say my name or Snuffles’ real name and one of our mirrors will buzz and we can talk face to face. Call us once you’ve finished reading. I love you so much, and don’t think that you being in Slytherin will change anything. I’m currently writing down some pranks that I’m going to send to the Weasley twins - if Snape tries anything at all you will notify the twins.  
I love you more than Snuffles does,  
Moony

Harry reached out to grab to package that had landed next to his tiny breakfast. He paused for a moment and took in the silence around him.

“What?” he asked. Pansy snorted.

“Why’s professor Lupin writing to you? I recognize his handwriting,” Daphne asked softly. Harry grinned, opening the package to reveal a small mirror. He tapped it with his wand to expand it to the size of his hand.

“He sent me a communication mirror,” he said. Millie’s jaw dropped.

“How did he buy that? Those are so expensive,” she breathed. Harry smiled and nodded.

“Remus Lupin,” he said, and an image shimmered into existence. 

“Prongslet! Do you like your present?” Sirius exclaimed, beaming. Harry ginned.

“Keep it down, we’re in the Great Hall. I have a question for you - how in the world did you manage to convince him to use your money? Blackmail?” he asked, leaning the mirror against his glass, revealing Blaise and Draco on either side of him. Sirius scowled.

“Cousin,” he said icily. He was knocked out of the frame by Remus, who was rolling his eyes.

“Hello Blaise, Draco. Ignore him, we’re still trying to get Walburga off the wall. And he blackmailed me, for you information - he hid all of my chocolate! And he refused to give it back until I bought it, and he wouldn’t let me mail order anything,” Remus said with a huff. Draco looked incredibly confused, and the rest of the Slytherins were fighting to keep their laughter in check. 

“Oh the horror. Well, classes are starting soon so we are going to have to go, but I can call again later,” Harry said, flicking up a tempus. Remus nodded, and Sirius appeared back in the frame.

“We love you Harry!” Sirius exclaimed, his words slightly muffled. 

“Love you - Siri are you eating my choco- ” the rest of his sentence was cut off as the call ended.

“That was informational,” Blaise drawled. Harry rolled his eyes.

“Which bit?” he asked. Six pairs of eyes stared at him

“The fact that our sweet defense professor from last year is sleeping with the notoriously murderous Sirius Black, who is apparently as excitable as a puppy,” Theo said.

“They’re both acting completely out of character,” Millie added. Harry smirked.

“Would you think I was lying if I told you that Remus mailed the Weasley twins a bunch of prank ideas?” Harry asked. Six shocked faces looked back at him.

“No way, there is no way he did that,” Draco said, shaking his head. Harry smirked and pointed to a window, where an owl sat, holding a letter with a seal identical to the one that Harry had received from Remus. It hooted and flew down to the Gryffindor table, dropping a letter on George’s head. The Slytherins watched as the two boys grinned and opened it, immediately being doused with a shower of confetti and sparkles, before they grinned and quickly left the table. The six Slytherins turned back to look at Harry, who shrugged and continued eating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys for missing last weekend! I've been crazy busy.


	4. Professor Moody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry was looking forward to DADA - however, certain events led to some new opinions...

Harry was looking forwards to Defense. He had heard that their teacher was going to be the famous ex-auror, Mad-Eye Moody, who had been Tonks’ mentor when she went through auror training. The other Slytherins were less excited.

“I don’t know how he’s going to stop himself from arresting half of us. You know, because we’re all Death Eater’s kids,” Theo had drawled as they ate breakfast. Harry had rolled his eyes. Now, in the classroom, Harry could feel the tension of his classmates while the Hufflepuffs were completely oblivious to the Slytherin’s state of stress. They had immediately fallen silent however, when Moody had stomped into class, ten minutes late.

“Wands out, books away,” he grunted, before making his way to the front of the room. Harry felt his skin crawl. There was something off about the man. 

“CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” Moody shouted. Everyone but Harry, who had been warned by Tonks, jumped. Moody’s fake eye swiveled and landed on him, pausing for a moment before scanning through the rest of the class.

“I recognize some of your names,” he muttered, before flicking his wand at his desk and levitating out a cage with a spider in it. Theo sent Harry a Look as if to say, see, I told you.

“Dumbledore’s given me permission to teach you lot about some rather well known spells, that will land you with a one-way ticket to Azkaban if it’s discovered that you’ve used one. Malfoy! What’s one of the Unforgivables?” Moody barked. Harry glanced at Draco sitting next to him.

“The Imperius Curse, sir. The caster puts the victim entirely under their control,” he said clearly. Harry saw his hands shaking slightly.

“Yes, the Imperius Curse. Wasn’t your father under that when he served Voldemort?” Moody asked cheerfully, turning to take a spider out of the cage. Harry kicked Draco in the shin when he saw him poised to say something in response.

Don’t rile him up, he scribbled on a piece of paper, before sliding it over. Draco sighed deeply and slipped the paper into his bag, but thankfully stayed quiet.

“Engorgio. Imperio!” Moody said, pointing his wand at the spider. It grew and then froze. 

“Do a flip,” he said, and the spider did so. The students watched in horror as the spider was forced to do things that shouldn’t have been possible for a spider to do.

“Anyone know the second Unforgivable?” Moody asked. Ernie Macmillan slowly raised his hand, and Moody made the spider jump through the air and land on his desk.

“The Cruciatus Curse, or torture curse. It causes unbearable pain,” he said softly, staring at the spider.

“Crucio,” Moody said calmly. The spider began to twitch and writhe around on the desk as Macmillan looked on in horror. Moody stopped the spell.

“And the third?” he asked, fake eye swiveling to stare at Harry. The room was silent as Pansy raised her hand.

“The Killing Curse. A quick and painless death,” she stated bluntly. Moody pointed his wand at the spider.

“Avada Kedavra,” he said emotionlessly. There was a flash of bright green light and the spider keeled over and stopped moving. The class watched in silence. 

“Only one person has ever survived the Killing Curse, and he’s sitting right here in this classroom,” Moody said, turning to stare at Harry. The rest of the class turned too. Draco tried to glare at everyone. 

“Professor Lupin did a very good job teaching you all about Dark creatures, so this year we are going to be focusing on curses, hexes, and spells,” Moody said roughly, diverting the class’ attention from Harry as he pointed to the blackboard, where a piece of chalk began to take notes. 

“Start taking notes,” he said. Harry stared at his desk for the rest of the lesson, not even bothering to take notes. The green light kept flashing in front of his eyes, and his brain kept replaying the memory of his mother begging for his life before she died. When class was dismissed he picked up his bag and left the room, not waiting for the Slytherins. He pulled out his map and looked for Hermione, finding her sitting by the lake with Neville. He hurried out of the castle, ignoring the Draco and Pansy calling after him. He spotted the two Gryffindors sitting under a tree and headed over. Hermione turned when she heard him coming.

“Harry? You okay?” she asked, patting the ground in between her and Neville, whose eyes were red-rimmed. He sat clumsily.

“Did Moody show you guys the Unforgivables too?” she asked softly. Harry blinked.

“It was nothing. All it took was two little words and then they were gone. Just like that. I’ve been seeing that light in my nightmares for my whole life, and it was just two words,” he choked out. Neville nodded sympathetically. 

“One word and my parents were ripped from me too. I mean, they’re still alive but they’re insane. They don’t recognize anyone, not even me,” Neville whispered. Hermione smiled sadly. 

“I’ll leave you two to talk, but make sure to go back to the castle before curfew,” she said, giving both boys a hug before getting up and walking back to the castle. As she walked in through the doors she spotted Malfoy and Parkinson having a whispered argument, and she headed in their direction.

“I can’t find him anywhere. We need to make sure he’s okay!” she heard Malfoy hiss. She cleared her throat and the two Slytherins jumped.

“Couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. He’s sitting under the tree by the lake with Neville, but I would leave them alone for now,” she said. Pansy nodded.

“We’ll get Harry back to our common room before curfew, and we can have Millie take Longbottom back to Gryffindor tower,” she said. Hermione smiled gratefully, and continued on her way to Gryffindor Tower.

Harry sat with Neville, both boys numb as they stared at the Lake, watching the reflection of the sunset and the ripples on the water from the Giant Squid splashing around. Someone cleared their throat and Harry whipped his head around, hand going for his wand. He let out a deep breath as he saw it was Pansy and Millie.

“It’s almost curfew,” Pansy said quietly. Harry nodded, and pushed himself to his feet. Millie reached out a hand to Neville, who took it tentatively, and was pulled up.

“I’m so sorry,” she said quietly. Neville looked at the ground and sighed.

“It’s okay. I mean, at least I still have them. Sorry Harry,” he said, blushing as he realized what he had said. Harry shrugged, looking at the clouds turning pink. Neville and Millie started off towards the castle and Pansy reached out to grab his hand. Harry looked down at their hands and up at Pansy, who smiled sadly.

“Hey, you can always talk to me, remember?” she said softly. Harry nodded, and let her lead him back to the Slytherin dorms. 

For the rest of the week, Harry found it hard to mask his anticipation for their second Defense class of the year, however, thinking about it kept his mind off of Ron. Ron had been acting strangely all week, not ignoring him but not making any effort to interact like normal. Hermione kept telling him that he should talk to him, and that he would come around, but Harry couldn’t force himself to do it. On Friday after lunch, he was headed to the Great Hall with Pansy and Draco when Hermione appeared, looking frantic. She pulled them into a relatively unused corridor.

“‘Mione, what’s wrong?” Harry asked worriedly. She shook her head.

“You know how we talked about the Unforgivables last class?” she said, gripping Harry’s forearms. Harry paled.

“He put all of us under imperius, one at a time. To teach us how to resist it,” she finished. Harry barely heard Pansy gasp behind him.

“That’s illegal,” Draco said coldly. Pansy turned to face him.

“He’s an ex-auror, he can practically do whatever he wants,” she retorted, rubbing at her face.

“I have to go find Neville - I just wanted to warn you before the class started so that you wouldn’t be caught unawares,” Hermione said, before hurrying out of the castle. Harry looked at the floor and felt Pansy gently tug at his arm.

“Come on, here we go. It’ll just be one time and then we hopefully never have to experience it again. Also, we have to tell the others,” she said, guiding him down the halls with Draco walking next to them. They filed into the slowly-filling classroom, Draco and Harry moving to the back while Pansy informed the others about what they had learned. When Moody entered the classroom everyone fell silent.

“It seems that new travels fast here,” Moody grunted. There was some reluctant nodding.

“Last class, I told you about the three Unforgivable curses. Today I’m going to put each of you under the imperius curse so that you can learn to resist it. Ms. Abbott, if you would,” he finished, gesturing to the front of the room. Hannah Abbott stood up slowly and stepped to the front of the room.

“Imperio,” Moody said quietly. Abbott froze and her eyes went glassy. 

“Do a spin,” he continued. Abbott twirled around on the spot. Moody flicked his wand to cancel the spell and Abbott snapped back to reality and hurried back to her desk.

“Next,” Moody said, and the boy sitting next to Abbott came to the front of the room. Moody made him do jumping jacks.

One by one, the students were put under the curse. One was made to jump on top of a desk, another pretended to be a chicken. Harry could feel his heartbeat quickening as it got closer and closer to him turn. When Blaise was called up, he was made to do a handstand, and ended up falling down. Theo climbed the wall, Millicent sang a song, and Daphne gave a speech about physics. Draco’s turn was different. Moody tried to make him dance a jig, however, he kept stumbling.

“Look at that. He’s beginning to resist the curse, as you can see by how he is missing steps,” Moody explained irritably before stopping the curse. Draco practically ran back to his desk, and Pansy was called to the front. Moody tried to make her sing the ABC’s, though she began to sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ instead.

“This is another form of resisting the curse. As you can hear, she couldn’t resist my instruction to sing but was able to sing a different song,” Moody said, looking rather annoyed as he cancelled the curse. Pansy brushed off her skirt and went back to her desk. Finally, it was Harry’s turn. He made his way to the front of the classroom and stopped, taking several deep breaths.

“Imperio,” he heard Moody say. A feeling of calm swept over his mind, feeling utterly alien. Do a cartwheel, Moody’s voice echoed. Harry put one foot forward and stopped. He didn’t know how to do a cartwheel. Do a cartwheel, Moody’s voice came again. Harry frowned. He started to raise his arms and brought them down again, then pushed away at the foggy calm seeping into his mind.

“But I don’t know how to do a cartwheel,” he said, turning to face Moody, who stared back at him blankly.

“How can I do a cartwheel if I don’t know how?” he asked, not noticing that the classroom had gone completely silent. Moody raised an eyebrow.

“Potter, have you previously been imperiused?” he asked. Harry shook his head. Moody turned to the rest of the class.

“Potter has shown us a perfect example of what completely resisting the curse looks like. For your homework, research the imperius curse and way to resist it - no homework for you, Potter,” Moody said, before removing a flask from his coat and taking a swig. 

“Class dismissed!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I’m so sorry I haven’t updated!! i’m taking a break from this fic atm due to the fact that I currently have no inspiration to write drarry which sucks bc I love my boys. However, I have found myself writing a Tomarry and I definitely am going to put that up - especially since I’ve actually vaguely outlined everything for that while in this fic I’ve just been free writing. Anywho, I want to make it clear that this fic is NOT abandoned, and my Tomarry fic - aedificare - will be going up within the next week or so if you want to read more of my stuff.


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